Description
The importance of public opinion in the determination of public policy is the subject of considerable debate. Whether discussion centres on local, state or national affairs, the influence of the opinions of ordinary citizens is often assumed yet rarely demonstrated. Other factors such as interest group lobbying, party politics and developmental, or environmental, constraints have been thought to have the greater influence over policy decisions. Professors Erikson, Wright and McIver make the argument that state policies are highly responsive to public opinion, and they show how the institutions of state politics work to achieve this high level of responsiveness. They analyse state policies from the 1930s to the present, drawing from, and contributing to, major lines of research on American politics. Their conclusions are applied to central questions of democratic theory and affirm the robust character of the state institution.
Chapter
Nevada: A statistical outlier
STABILITY AND CHANGE IN STATE OPINIONS
Change, stability, and the measurement of state opinion
IDEOLOGICAL POLARIZATION OF THE MASS PUBLIC
3. Accounting for state differences in opinion
CULTURE VERSUS DEMOGRAPHY AS SOURCES OF STATE OPINION
THE CONSEQUENCES OF OMITTED VARIABLES
ACCOUNTING FOR STATE DIFFERENCES IN POLITICAL CULTURE
Elazar's political culture
Specific demography: Income, education, race
Commonality to partisan and ideological effects?
4. Public opinion and policy in the American states
THE OPINION-POLICY CORRELATION
CONTROLLING FOR SOCIOECONOMIC VARIABLES
WHY IS THE OPINION-POLICY CONNECTION SO STRONG? A DISCUSSION
CAUSATION IS NOT CONGRUENCE: A DISCLAIMER
5. State parties and state opinion
MEASURING STATE PARTY ELITE IDEOLOGIES
STATE OPINION AND PARTY ELITE IDEOLOGY
ACTIVIST ELITES, ELECTORAL ELITES, AND STATE OPINION
PARTY MIDPOINT AND PARTY POLARIZATION
PARTY SYSTEMS AND PARTY CONFLICT
6. Legislative elections and state policy
A BROKEN ELECTORAL LINKAGE?
A THEORY OF STATE ELECTORAL POLITICS
A model of electoral representation
PUBLIC OPINION AND PARTY ELITES
STATE OPINION, STATE PARTY POSITIONS, AND PARTY STRENGTH
STATE OPINION, STATE PARTIES, AND THE LEGISLATURE
LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS, LEGISLATIVE PREFERENCES, AND STATE POLICY
Appendix A: A model of state elections
Appendix B: Taking out the South
7. Political culture and policy representation
ELAZAR'S THREE SUBCULTURES
The moralistic subculture
The traditionalistic subculture
The individualistic subculture
SUBCULTURE AND REPRESENTATION: SOME PROPOSITIONS
Subculture and policy: A first look
Political subculture and party elite liberalism
Political subculture and party elite polarization
Political subculture and legislative partisanship
Political subculture and legislative liberalism
Summary: Three state subcultures
8. Partisanship, ideology, and state elections
STATE VOTING IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
The macro-level: Party, ideology, and the presidential vote
1984 and 1988 exit poll data
State partisanship in presidential elections
STATE ELECTIONS FOR U.S. SENATOR AND GOVERNOR
Predicting gubernatorial elections
Predicting Senate elections
9. State opinion over time
HISTORICAL MEASURES OF STATE OPINION
LONG-TERM STABILITY OF STATE IDEOLOGY AND PARTISANSHIP
The stability of state partisanship, 1947-88
The stability of state ideology, 1937-88
The ideology-partisanship relationship
STATE PRESIDENTIAL VOTING AND THE GALLUP MEASURES
State socioeconomic variables and state ideology
STATE IDEOLOGY AND STATE POLICY IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Measuring policy liberalism historically
The opinion-policy correlation historically
Appendix: Historical question wordingvariations Gallup poll, (1937-64)
Ideology: Self-identification
10. Conclusions: Democracy in the American states
THE PUZZLE OF REPRESENTATION
DEMOCRACY AND REPRESENTATION IN THE STATES
Statehouse Democracy
：Public Opinion and Policy in the American States
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